


—who will press, now, her heart over my heart to warm me?

by malreves



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, im not even a little sorry this shit is really sad read at ur own risk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-07 21:01:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20823737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malreves/pseuds/malreves
Summary: If she had ever expected this moment would truly be upon her, would creep behind her until it could no longer be hidden, and unearth itself without so much as a moment to catch her breath, Edelgard would never have truly admitted it.





	—who will press, now, her heart over my heart to warm me?

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote my girlfriend some really sad dorogard basically

_ “—who will press, now, her heart over my heart to warm me?” _

If she had ever expected this moment would truly be upon her, would creep behind her until it could no longer be hidden, and unearth itself without so much as a moment to catch her breath, Edelgard would never have truly admitted it. There were casualties in war, there were always casualties when fighting for what was right, but so far and few between had they been ones that Edelgard herself knew. The people she had held close had all remained mostly unscathed in their campaign to bring justice to  Fódlan, but in that moment, none of that mattered. She watched as Dimitri pierced Dorothea’s abdomen with the tip of his lance, her blood flashing brilliantly across his chest. She froze, unable to move, as Dorothea cried out one last time before collapsing to the ground, Linhardt too far to reach her now. There was nothing to do, nothing she could do, other than watch the woman she loved die on the battlefield before her, helpless to stop it. 

\--

_ “I dreamed you, I wished for your existence.” _

“Edie?” Dorothea’s voice was drowsy, thick and slow with sleep. She lifted her head from the pillow beside Edelgard’s, hair spilling over her shoulder, lashes casting long shadows across her cheekbones. “What are you doing still awake?” 

Edelgard suppressed a smile at the sight.

“It’s nothing, Dorothea, you should go back to sleep.” Edelgard replied, moving to run her fingers through the ends of Dorothea’s locks. “Nothing to lose sleep over.” 

Dorothea frowned, a small pout settling on her lower lip. 

“Clearly it’s something, seeing as you’re still awake.” She shifted so that her head was in Edelgard’s lap, and pressed her face against Edelgard’s soft middle. Edelgard began almost thoughtlessly braiding the ends of Dorothea’s hair together as she parsed through her thoughts. She had awakened from a nightmare that had shaped itself from her childhood. Rats and cockroaches scuttled across the floor at her feet, and she could hear her siblings crying out for her, their screams of pain and anguish still rang in her ears. But here, now wrapped in the softness that Dorothea let her see in the quiet moments they stole together, the fear and resentment that had woken her dissipated. Here, she was content to be held by her lover, despite the war that still raged on outside the monastery’s walls. Here, she was safe. 

“I’m alright now,” Edelgard responded, letting Dorothea capture one of her hands in her own to kiss the tips of her fingers. 

“Edie–” Dorothea began, but Edelgard shushed her gently.    
“I promise, I’m quite alright now.” She leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Dorothea’s lips. 

\--

_ “Bear patiently my heart – for you have suffered heavier things”  _

Edelgard supposed it was cruel of her to not notice the chaos and destruction around her. To push it aside as she continued her advance towards where Dimitri stood, brilliant and proud on the plains, even as Petra fired the arrow that left Mercedes a dead husk at her feet, and Byleth brought the Sword of the Creator to meet Dedue’s heart. She spared no moment to wait and cry over Dorothea’s rapidly cooling body, soaked in crimson, lips gently parted in pain. She continued forward, Aymr in hand, towards Dimitri, towards her fate and her revenge, as her heart grew colder and colder still against the battlefield soaked in blood. 

\--

_ “if she was the moon, then i was the stars; and oh what a glorious sky we made” _

“There now,” Dorothea smiled mischievously. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

The flush that bloomed across Edelgard’s cheeks was so ferocious that it left Dorothea with tears in her eyes from her laughter. 

“Aw, Edie,” she teased, moving to cup Edelgard’s cheek with her hand. “I promise it gets easier with practice.” 

Edelgard flushed once more, rising from her place between Dorothea’s legs and moving to climb across her lovers body for a hesitant kiss. 

Dorothea’s fingers danced down Edelgard’s side as she sighed into the kiss, happy and humming with satisfaction. She carefully skirted over the scars that thread their way across Edelgard’s body, framing her torso, wrapping around the upper parts of her arms and legs. She gently cupped Edelgard’s breast as she moved to mouth against her neck. 

“C-careful,” Edelgard’s usually poised voice tripped from her lips in a stutter, a testament to how unraveled she really was. “Not where others can see,” 

Dorothea nipped once, gently, before moving her focus downwards, leaving a bruise against the pale skin of Edelgard’s collarbone. 

“Here,” she began, shifting so that her body was now hovering over Edelgard’s. “Let me show you how it’s done.” 

\--

_ “Love does not  
make me gentle or kind” _

As she reached Dimitri, the roar of blood in her ears drowned out whatever conversation passed between them. Her grip on Aymr held firm as she brought the axe down across his chest, crushing his ribs in the process, and leaving the Holy Kingdom without a king. As she pulled the axe from his chest, she let out a wordless cry as she again and again crashed it’s burdensome head through his chest, reducing him to a pulpy mass before her. 

“My lady,” Hubert’s strangled voice came from beside her. He didn’t dare try to stop her, unwilling to press her further when she was already so close to the brink of destruction. “My lady, he is dead. It is over. We have won.” 

Edelgard let the axe fall from her bloodied grasp, and turned her piercing stare to Hubert, asking him the one question she wouldn’t dare say aloud. 

He hesitated, conflict clear on his face for the first time since the war began. He reached a gloved hand out to her, but it was ignored. They were at an impasse, Edelgard unwilling to move without further news of Dorothea and Hubert unwilling to give her the news that would surely cause her to break. 

It was Linhardt who eventually answered her question, running up to her in a breathless daze. 

“M-my lady, I’m so sorry,” he began, and Edelgard closed her eyes. 

\--

_ “Thank you for loving me when I still tasted of heartache and war.” _

“I thought I would find you here.” Dorothea’s musical voice carried across the barren tower over to where Edelgard was standing by the sole window. 

The goddess tower was where she went to hide from the war she had created, brewing all around them. It was the one place Hubert knew to leave her be when she retreated to it, and the first place Dorothea thought to look to when Edelgard conspicuously went missing. 

“I just needed a moment,” Edelgard replied, not turning to greet Dorothea. She felt as though a thousand years had passed between sunrise and sunset. Had it been just that very morning she had delivered a speech rousing the Imperial Army for the next fight they were to have, against Claude himself? Had that been her, speaking fearlessly of the future, of the bright new dawn they were ushering in? Or had it just been a fever dream, an extended moment of adrenaline coursing through her?

Dorothea came up beside her, one hand resting on Edelgard’s waist, her chin resting against Edelgard’s armored shoulder.    
“When this is all over, I want to live in a big house on the coast. Not all the time, I know you’ll have to be in Enbarr for most things, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a retreat for just us? A place we can hide away to?” Dorothea asked, calmly looking out at the deep red sky of the sunset. 

Edelgard blinked wide in shock, unable to compose a response. 

“A great big white house with lots of windows, so we can let the sea breeze in whenever we like,” Dorothea continued, wrapping her other arm around Edelgard’s middle. “Somewhere peaceful, somewhere that doesn’t remind me of war.” 

Edelgard quickly blinked back tears, pressing her mouth to a thin line. She rarely let herself dream of a future past the war, the beautiful softness that lay before her with Dorothea. It was simply that, a dream to comfort her in the moments where the war felt its darkest, its most insurmountable. A dream to help soothe her dreams and carry her on to morning. Something she could very nearly grasp between her fingertips, but so fragile that the slightest movement could shatter it to pieces. 

“I want somewhere like that, okay El? Somewhere happy. Somewhere just for the two of us.”

She nodded, careful to not dislodge Dorothea, and smiled gently as Dorothea pressed a soft kiss to her cheek in response. 

\--

_ “I feel your absence in the marrow of my bones.” _

The funeral was a hushed affair, only those closest to Edelgard coming to pay their respects to the emperor dressed in crimson, no veil to hide her face. Hubert had arraigned the ceremony to be quick and elegant, as elegant as they could manage on a budget made for war and not for mourning those lost in the conquest. There were flowers, and even a coffin, to bury Dorothea with, to take her from this world that still held on to Edelgard so cruelly. There were tears and quiet prayers, though Bernadetta had been inconsolable since the battle and had yet to make an appearance at the service. As the hour drew later, Hubert quietly ushered out the remaining members of the Black Eagles Strike Force, to allow Edelgard a moment alone. 

Even in death, Dorothea was beautiful. Her hair had been arraigned much like she were sleeping, lips gently parted, almost as if she were taking a breath. Edelgard didn’t dare let tears begin to fall, for fear of being unable to stop the torrent to follow, but she allowed herself one final moment to truly feel the pain of her loss before turning and leaving the room altogether. 

\--

_ “It’s pouring, the trees are getting greener before my eyes, I love you. I’m almost afraid of the intensity of this happiness.” _

“Edie,” Dorothea said, laughing as she reached for Edelgard’s hand, pulling her into an alcove away from the party happening around them. The winter air was crisp and cool and neither of them was particularly dressed for the weather. 

Edelgard felt the smile begin to creep its way across her face as she pressed up against Dorothea in the secrecy of the garden. She rarely had moments like this growing up, moments where she could just be herself without the expectations of others hanging over her, the choices she had made, and was continuing to make, making the line she walked between student and Princess finer and finer. She let herself crowd into the dark space with Dorothea, silently marveling at the beautiful girl who had rushed away from a ball full of eager suitors to hide with  _ her _ in the gardens, despite the cold. 

“I wanted to take you to the Goddess Tower, but,” Dorothea began, giggling even more. “I just couldn’t wait any longer.” 

She leaned forward and kissed Edelgard gently on the lips, one hand still wrapped around her wrist and the other moving to her waist. Edelgard was overwhelmed: by the soft touch, the sweet scent of roses that clung to Dorothea’s hair, the warmth that radiated from every single point where the two of them were touching. She had never truly been kissed before, and never imagined that her first time would be with the beautiful, carefree girl in her class who never seemed to have any worries on her mind, who Edelgard never imagined having feelings for her. 

Dorothea pulled back, nervousness and giddiness waging a war across her face. 

“Was that okay?” She asked, gently biting her lip. 

Edelgard smiled. 

“Will you do that again?” She asked, moving to hold Dorothea’s hand in her own. 

“Do you want me to?” Dorothea asked, happiness beginning to settle in her eyes. 

“I would like that very much, yes.” 

“Then yes, yes I will.” 

**Author's Note:**

> first line of each section is a quote, lmk if ur curious as to the origin


End file.
